


Almost

by EsculentEvil



Series: EsculentEvil's BatJokes Shots [15]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Anniversary, Budding Love, Flirting, Fluff and Angst, Introspection, M/M, Opposites Attract, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-13 23:34:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16901916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EsculentEvil/pseuds/EsculentEvil
Summary: Inspired bythis little doodle I drew, the fact that Joker’s debut [id est: his birthday] is coming soon*, and the fact that—in ’verse—April 25th would count as their anniversary [which Joker would also see as his birthday because meeting Batman is what makes him feel alive again].*Please note that this is a work being transferred to AO3 from my Tumblr, @esculentevil; this work was originally posted on April 23rd 2018 so the "coming soon" is referencing the original post date, not the current one.





	Almost

The sounds of the docks are abnormally comforting.

The late fishermen laugh and talk lowly with one another as they cross the pier below him. The gulls that frequent this part of the city screech and cry above him. The waters of Gotham’s river rise and fall like blood around him.

He is at the heart of his precious city.

In a split second, so is **he**. The Joker grunts as he hoists himself up onto the shipping container his other half is standing on. An amused grin is stretching his bleached face as wide as it’s ever been. There’s a glint in his eye that suggests he’s entirely entertained by the brooding of his counterpart; but there’s a glint in his other acid orb that speaks of joy immeasurable and a pervertedly pure love.

“You really came~” he greets, because amusement always wins out with him.  


Batman simply nods, choosing to remain silent and let ~~his~~ the madman talk. Joker, unbothered by this, skips his way towards his vigilante. He giggles as he approaches, his long and elegant body swaying slightly as his kitten heels clack against the container. He saddles up when he reaches Batman, bright red grin gay and giddy, as though preparing himself for something.

The dark knight can only wonder at that ~~because Joker never looks anything close to **nervous** no matter how inane or impossible his idea is~~.

The clown is silent for a long time—something that honestly concerns Batman ~~because his criminal is **never** at a loss for words~~—as he stares out at the river. He seems uncharacteristically contemplative and the Bat can’t help but feel his stomach sink because of this: only bad things happen when Joker thinks.

Then again: perhaps that only depends on what he thinks **of**?

“How’s Harley?” Batman asks after several minutes of strange silence. Joker blinks up at him from his side and, not for the first time, Batman wonders at this impossibly strong man’s size; he always expects him to be bigger than this.  


Probably because he is.

“ _Harley_?” Joker asks, incredulously. He follows up with a laugh before shaking his head and staring at the Bat bemusedly, “Why would you ask me **that**?”  


Batman replies a lot more calmly than he feels, “Because she’s the closest thing you have to family.”

Joker chortles. He quiets quickly, however, as he shrugs and nods ~~in a kind of hopeless way that Bruce is sure he’s imagining but maybe he isn’t~~. “Why not ask me about the weather?” he asks after a moment of thought.

Batman almost surprises himself with a quip: “We’re standing in it.”

Joker blinks up at him, surprised enough for both of them, before laughing loudly ~~and lovingly~~. He hunches over briefly and slaps his thigh at the absurdity of the ~~ir~~ situation before righting himself with a happy sigh and nodding again.

He then goes back to staring.

Batman watches him in silent confusion.

* * *

The invitation had come in the mail ~~well, in what counts as Batman’s mail; the Bat Signal had gone up with a message written on it in lipstick~~ : _Dixon Docks_.

Batman had immediately leaped into the Bat-mobile at the sight of it and driven down to the meeting place, stomach in knots and sweat on his brow. He refused to call up Dick or let Tim in on this; not even Damian was allowed to follow him. Alfred was the only one he sought out and, even then, that was only to ensure his father-figure knew that he may very well not return.

Meetings with the Joker are far and few between these days but Bruce is always ~~ridiculously~~ concerned about how they will turn out; this time is no different.

Still, despite all of this, the thought of it being a trap never even occurred to him; he just expected their usual dangerous mixture of fighting and flirting.

* * *

As though they had both been remembering the same thing, Joker turns to look up at his Bat at the same time the vigilante realizes his folly.

Joker smiles surprisingly softly. “I’ve got a secret~” he sing-songs almost sweetly. Almost: there’s a sharp edge to his eyes that says the secret isn’t free.

Batman nods shortly, “What do you want for it.”

Joker giggles, “What? Not even a question?” The clown laughs, leaning against the suddenly tense bulk of the larger man. The loon calms and sighs, an almost content look in his eyes. He doesn’t let up from his lean and it strikes Bruce that Joker is taking this opportunity to simply be close to the Batman.

Against his better judgment, the Bat relaxes.

Joker takes note of this, obviously, and lifts his eyes from the river to stare up at the vigilante curiously. There’s something about his face that indicates he isn’t being inquisitive about the fact that Batman relaxed but the fact that the Bat is being so patient: he’s wondering—marveling—at the stillness of their evening.

Then, he smiles, “April 25th.”

Batman eyes him strangely even as he nods, “Two days from now.” As Joker smiles a little wider, Batman considers the date: it falls on a Wednesday this year; while it is a date significant to some countries such as Italy and Portugal, it is not overly significant to Americans; and while it is important to some religious groups—like Western Christianity and the Eastern Orthodox Church—Joker, as far as anyone knows, isn’t part of either. So why is he bringing it up?  


The Joker’s smile is fading.

It takes a moment for Bruce to notice it but, once he does, the Bat tries even harder to figure things out. Joker would not bring this up if it were not important and, if Bruce can be honest, he **has** noticed that dates tend to mean a lot more to the mad man than they ever seem to mean to him. At first, particularly when Joker made a habit out of messing around with holidays like Christmas, Batman thought it was just the loon tearing down days he knows mean a lot to others—because he’s a vindictive little bit that always seems to want revenge for some reason the Bat can never figure out ~~maybe it’s because he feels offended or fears being forgotten or maybe he’s just felt everything there is to feel and all that’s left for him is ferocity~~ —but, after those attacks petered out, the Bat slowly realized he was only half right: the days were always important but it was always a matter of greater importance to understand their meaning to the Joker, himself.

So: what **does** April 25th mean to Joker?

Batman wonders this as he stares down into the clown’s steadily growing frown. The loon is getting angry and frustrated with him; and, while that should be the Bat’s cue to get into a fighting stance and prepare himself for an explosive fight, all he can do is think that it must be about **him** —or, more aptly, **them**.

But what happened between them on an April 25th—O.

Suddenly, Bruce wants to slap himself.

* * *

Joker looks ready to stab him.

It’s written in the deep groves of his face, the lines around his furiously hurt eyes, and the tenseness of his twitching jaw. His teeth are clenched, his hands in fists, and the frown marring his normally glowing face is dark as an abyss.

The Joker is **pissed**.

And Batman needs to fix it.

* * *

“1940.”  


Immediately, the Joker perks up. A bright smile blooms across his face and he nods eagerly, sliding a little closer to Bruc ~~i~~ e. He’s suddenly giddy—very much so—and Bruce swears he’s surrounded by hearts and sparkles and flowers like one of those ridiculously happy cartoon characters Tim and Dick watch on TV.

“April 25th, 1940,″ Joker agrees, and Bruce is relieved he’s got it right.  


“The day we met,” the Bat continues; and, as he does, he watches—too—the joy and **hope** that looms in Joker’s eyes. It looms because it scares Bruce: why on earth would such a thing mean so much to the other man? It’s the day this whole mess started! The day Gotham forever changed. The day **Bruce** changed.  


... The day Batman changed and became the other half of the Joker.

“The day we completed each other.” It falls out of his mouth as he stands in awe; Joker stands in awe, too, as though he never expected such words from Bruce—such acknowledgement and acceptance and approval and... allowance.  


Joker stands during this monumental moment, his face beaming and his cheeks flushing while his ears are reddening and ruddiness is flooding into all of him; and he can’t **breathe** he’s so **happy** —Because The Bat Actually **Gets It**.

His knees are weak and he has to pull the Bat down down down until his nose is brushing light light light against a cowl-covered ear and his breath is huffing and puffing and blowing over across into and he’s **so close it hurts** when his almost kiss is taken away; but he’s still smiling as the Bat backs away way way because there’s a redness to his face, too, and he fumbles with his grappling gun as he leaps off down gone and it’s the most adorable thing Joker’s ever seen because **it means he felt it, too.**

**Author's Note:**

> Quick apology for how this one is written because I wanted it to hold a bit of a dream-like surrealism so that the rawness of the ending isn’t **as** weird when it hits. Probably failed but...))
> 
> Also: please note that, due to the fact that the doodle that inspired this featured the Looney Joker and his Bat, this is technically set in the 90′s animated series [ _BtAS_ ]; it is, however, set later in the series to feature more Robins and kind of assumes Jason Todd is dead... This means that the characters featured/mentioned might actually be from _Death in the Family_ [which means this is a different/comic’verse Bronze Age Joker rather than a cartoon one]; I really don’t know.


End file.
